Pirates of the Caribbean:At World's End
by Undead Author
Summary: What happened after the kiss? Are Jack and Elizabeth really meant to be together? Why am I asking you all these questions? Sparrabeth. JxE. JackElizabeth. What do you kids call it these days?
1. Lips of an Angel

Disclaimer: All of the POTC characters, names, etc. belong to Disney Company until I get older and become rich and buy all of it. Until then, Disney owns them. I don't want a lawsuit. Remember: If you recognize it from the movies, the ride, etc. IT'S NOT MINE.

Note: Try using your willing suspension of disbelief. I know there are holes in this plot. I don't care. Willingly suspend your disbelief for the time being.

Captain Jack Sparrow sighed. He hated it here in this accursed Davy Jones's locker. It was so boring. His usual pirate attire's color had faded from so much sand, and he had many a scar from those bloody mutated crabs trying to eat him. The sky was hardly a sky, so much as a bluish-orange hole that went nowhere. The sand didn't look like sand either. It was orange-colored. Though these things were distracting enough, there was something…Someone he couldn't get off his mind.

Her.

He missed her so much it hurt. He'd never really felt this way about anyone before. The kiss. _Their_ kiss. She had lips of an angel. He'd felt lust before, he knew that, but he'd never felt like this.

And Will. His mate, his friend. His best friend. How could Jack do that to him? But...it was Elizabeth's fault. She knew. She knew he couldn't resist…couldn't resist her? He didn't know. Boredom turned to anger. Yes, Elizabeth. Blame Elizabeth. It was her fault for kissing him. But that kiss! It was more than just a goodbye kiss. It was a promise. A promise of something more, something bigger than either of them.

Jack shook his head. He wasn't one to get deep like this. It was the heat. Or the sand. Driving him mad. He searched his jacket and finally found it. The compass. He opened it and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes. It was pointing towards what looked like west, but hey! What did Jack know of east and west here? He was stuck.

"Well, that bloody doesn't help me any." He mumbled, shutting it angrily and shoving it into his pocket. Jack fiddled with his sword absentmindedly. His hand slipped and he sliced his right index finger on the blade; he didn't care. Pain. It took away memory.

So did rum, but Jack didn't have any on him.

Bugger.


	2. Love is Complicated

Elizabeth Swann let out an exasperated moan. She had been looking for Jack for at least…oh, she didn't know how long. It frustrated her, wandering around for days at a time looking for someone she wasn't even supposed to like. His memory seared her mind like a white-hot brand. She couldn't help but enjoy Jack's presence; nobody could. He was so funny, so full of life. He was so sure of himself. And now she didn't even know if he was alive.

"_Will,_" she whined.

She had come into this place with Will, and the silence between him and her was unbearable. She wished she could figure out why he was so cold to her on that trip. While they were being eaten by the Kraken, Will hadn't even held her hand. That wounded Elizabeth. The only logical reason she could think of was that Will had seen Jack and her kiss. Her heart pounded at the thought of that kiss. Sure, she had gone back onto the boat with means of tricking Jack and saving the crew and her and Will, but once it happened she didn't know what she meant or what to think. She had so many questions. Did she love Jack, or Will? If Will had seen the kiss, were they still getting married? What was it like to be married? She sighed. Love was complicated.

Her eyes narrowed. Knowing Jack, he'd probably forgotten the kiss already. He was so loose, so immoral. Maybe that's why she lusted after him. She was the daughter of a governor, for Pete's sakes! She couldn't be more proper. That reminded her of what Jack had said after they kissed. "Pirate…" he said. What had he meant by that? Surely he was not claiming she was a pirate? No, no, no. She had only done it to save the crew and Will and herself. She had not meant any more than that.

Had she?


	3. A Hole in His Heart

William Turner was fuming. Why had he let Elizabeth drag him to this infernal desert? Jack. Jack Sparrow, that was why. Will's best mate or at least he used to be before Will saw Jack and Elizabeth, Will's fiancé, kiss.

Will shook his left foot. One of those bloody strange looking crabs was trying to pinch him again.

He should have seen it coming, that kiss. Jack had almost given him to Davy Jones, why couldn't he steal Will's fiancé? Besides, Will had seen the way Jack had looked away awkwardly when Will and Elizabeth kissed on the island when Jack and Elizabeth were searching for Davy Jones's heart. Jack had liked her from the start, but Will hadn't cared. They were engaged, Will and Elizabeth were. Will was so sure she would love him forever. He would have never betrayed Elizabeth's trust. Why had she betrayed his? He sighed. And now he was stuck with her here looking for Jack.

Will chuckled. Jack. That lying, stealing, domineering son of a gun. That shallow, misleading devil. That deceptive thief. Will shook his head regretfully. He was going on and on about Jack in his head, yet Will would take a bullet or an arrow or a cannon or any other type of ammunition for Jack Sparrow. And he was pretty sure Jack would do the same for him.

Or not. Will had to remind himself what Jack had done to him. He had been disloyal to their friendship. They had been through hell and back together. But, then again, so had Will and Elizabeth. He didn't know who to trust anymore.

Will ignored Elizabeth when she droned out his name._ Try to get through this one without my help_, Will thought bitterly to himself.

He looked sideways at Elizabeth trudging along beside him in silence. Did she have feelings for Jack? Maybe Jack had just come onto her a little strong. Maybe it was the side affects of one too many swigs of rum. Elizabeth probably just kissed him back to make him happy. Something good before Jack left this world? Will decided to go along with this theory, although it left an empty spot in his heart where something should be. But what was it? Jack's friendship? Elizabeth's love? He pushed the thought of both of these things from his mind as he traipsed along the strange orange desert, closer and closer to answers hopefully.


	4. The Locker vs Tortuga

Jack rolled his eyes. If he were to have power over a deadly sea monster and where said sea monster took its victims, he at least would have made the place a little more interesting. A bit more like Tortuga. Jack would have made it with women. Women like…like Elizabeth.

He quickly shook his head. No, he told himself. He will not think of her. He would probably never see her again. He just needed to forget her. She was William's. She was engaged to Will, not him. She was engaged. She was beautiful and engaged. She was beautiful…

He growled. Could he think of nothing else except her? Surely he could think of something besides Elizabeth. Certainly he could! He struggled to think of another subject, but all he could muster was Will, rum, and Norrington. Why did Jack trust Norrington on his ship? Jack had tried to avoid conflict with Norrington back in Tortuga, but Norrington had spotted him. Jack growled again. Darn that Norrington. He was probably rolling in gold and Silver and riches Jack could only dream of right now. He liked Elizabeth, too. It seemed impossible not to.

Jack shook his head in disbelief. Everything he thought of led to him thinking of Elizabeth! What was he, obsessed?

Yes.


	5. The Confrontation

Liz exhaled noisily. She was so excruciatingly pained by the hush between her and Will, she decided to break the unspoken vow of silence. She turned to him.

"How long have we been here?" She queried. Elizabeth heard nothing but the shuffling of their feet on the oddly-colored sand.

"Will? How long have we been in Davy Jones's locker?" Still nothing.

"William Turner, you answer me this instant." Will said nothing. Elizabeth stopped and stood in front of Will so he couldn't go any farther.

"William. We hardly have said a word to each other on this whole trip. I would absolutely love for you to acknowledge my existence, thank you." Liz stared hard at him.

Will calmly replied, "Four days." He worked his way around her and kept walking.

Elizabeth's mouth was agape. "Four days? That's all you've got to say to your fiancé?!" She exclaimed.

Will shrugged. "It's all you asked. That and my acknowledging your presence. Which I am."

Elizabeth's brow furrowed. "William. Does the fact that you're almost completely ignoring me have to do with Jack?"

Will stopped and his shoulders stiffened. "Jack? Jack Sparrow? No, of course not, why would it?" He said promptly.

Elizabeth sighed. "You saw him kiss me, didn't you?"

Will's eyes narrowed and his shoulders stiffened even more, if that were possible. "Him? Kiss you? Elizabeth, you kissed him back just as much as he kissed him. I saw the way you and he looked at each other."

Elizabeth twisted a lock of hair around her left index finger. "Will, you don't understand. I had to."

Will laughed dryly. "Had to?"

Elizabeth stomped her foot. "Will, just listen to me! The kraken wasn't after us. It was after Jack. I had to get him to stay on the boat and not come with us, but I knew he wouldn't do that willingly. So, I kissed him and then chained his hand to the boat therefore he couldn't come with us. That did not affect my feelings for you or Jack." That was slightly a lie, but Will didn't have to know that. "Jack is a good friend. You are my fiancé. I love you."

"I love you too, Elizabeth, it's just--" Will was cut off by Elizabeth tugging on his shirt and pointing at a dark blob far in the distance. "Look, Will! Look! Do you suppose that could be Jack?"

Will squinted. "Maybe it's just a really, really big crab..."

Elizabeth grabbed his arm. "No! It looks like Jack! It does! Oh, Will, we've found him!" She kissed him on his cheek.

Will cocked his head. Elizabeth usually didn't get so excited over things like this. Despite what she just told him, did she really have feelings for Jack? He shrugged as he and Elizabeth headed towards what looked like Jack.


	6. Brooding Jack

Jack was idly tracing a portrait of Elizabeth in the sand, for lack of a better thing to do. He was brooding again. He shook his head, trying to clear it. Why couldn't he stop thinking about her?


	7. can't think of a chapter name

Will stopped.

"Will?" Ten feet behind, Elizabeth had stopped. She shuffled to catch up with him. "What's the matter?"

"Ah…Elizabeth, are you sure about this? That…doesn't look like Jack to me. Maybe it's another crab." Will did not like himself at the moment. He was hovering between strong hate and strong loyalty. What was wrong with him? He should hate Jack. Jack had been a…

No, he should be loyal to Jack. After all, Jack had done things for him, like…

Well, there had to be something. Will had done plenty of things for Jack, like freeing him from his cell in Port Royal that first time they met (but Jack was the person who got Will into this whole pirate trouble), Will was the one who had suggested burning the rum so the Kraken would go away (but look how that turned out), and when the cannibal tribe was running after Jack Will had said he wouldn't leave without him (but he almost did). Yes, Will was loyal to Jack (almost)! So why couldn't Jack do the same? Will thought of a few answers to this question:

a) Jack was a pirate. Pirates aren't the most loyal people in the world,

b) Jack was a captain of a ship, and he had probably learned not to trust strangers that broke him out of prison, and

c) Jack was…well, Jack.

Now that they were drawing closer to the crab/Jack, Will had to admit that the figure did have the distinct shape of a human being.


	8. Son of a Pirate

_**Author's Note:** Hokay. So. I'm skipping to the place where Will & Elizabeth find Jack. _

Elizabeth was about ten feet ahead of Will and Jack. The two were trudging along the sandy wasteland when Jack broke the silence: "So, how're things between you and Elizabeth?"

Will ground his teeth a bit. Wouldn't you like to know? He thought, but "fine" was his reply.

Jack tilted his head and peered at Will's tense features. "Are you sure? Because ol' Jack senses a bit of hostility in you, William."

Will's lips were pressed together tightly and he breathed hard out of his nostrils. "I assure you, Jack, if there were any _hostility_ between me and Elizabeth, you would be the first to know." This was true; and it was ironic because Jack was the person who caused the enmity in the first place.

Jack shrugged. "If you say so, mate. But if I was you…Achoo!" He sneezed from the dust and sand. He rubbed his nose with his tan right index finger. "If I was you, I'd find out what was wrong with Elizabeth."

Will's eyes narrowed and he muttered, a little too loudly, "I think you know what's wrong with Elizabeth, Jack."

Jack smirked bemusedly. "Oh do I? Well then please, young William, enlighten me." William stood so his nose and Jack's were barely three inches from the other. "I'll enlighten you, all right. You kissed her, Jack! How could you do that to me, kissing my fiancée? Elizabeth and I are engaged, Jack, in case you've forgotten! And you…you're a pirate!" By this time Will was so mad he could barely speak.

Jack chuckled. "William, I think all the heat's gotten to your 'ead, because you're not making any sense at all. Must be going mad."

William gaped a bit. "Not nearly as mad as a pirate who kisses another man's fiancé!" he shrieked.

It was Jack's turn to narrow his eyes. He poked Will in the chest. "Now see here, William. Don't you go off on me because your bonnie lass decided to kiss said handsome pirate. And she kissed me. I had no intentions of stopping her, true, but she kissed me first. And, speaking of which; in case I've remembered correctly, you are a pirate also."

"You kissed her back just as…" Will tried to swallow the dryness in his throat. "…Just as much as she kissed you. I saw it."

"William. I could not care less what you did or did not see, savvy? For all I care, you could have seen me get into bed with Elizabeth. I'll leave it up to your imagination to decide if I did or not."

"WHAT?!" A shrill female voice pierced the two men's argument. Elizabeth stormed over to where she was standing right in front of Jack. "For your information, Mister Sparrow," she said, placing an emphasis on 'mister', "for your information I would not sleep with you if you paid me."

Jack laughed a bitter laugh. "Yes you would."

"That's it!" William pulled out his sword, and Jack, not missing a beat, extracted his as well. The two started deftly banging their swords together, moving together. Elizabeth knew a thing or two about sword fighting, but she had no sword, so she ran up to them.

"You two! Stop it! Stop it this instant!" Jack roughly shoved her away.

"This is between me and Mister Turner, love, you stay out of it." Will dropped his sword and lunged at Jack.

"Don't shove Elizabeth like that!" he roared, tackling Jack. Jack tried to get his sword up, but Will knocked it out of Jack's hands.

Elizabeth was frustrated; this was just like when Jack and Will and Norrington fought. She hadn't said anything that distracted them then, but perhaps now…

She cleared her throat, cupped her hands over her mouth, and yelled this: "I don't love either of you, so _stop fighting_!"

This got their attention. Will stopped trying to punch Jack's face and Jack's hands dropped from defending his face from being pummeled. "What…what did you say? You...don't love me?" Will asked, with more hurt on his face than Elizabeth had ever seen before. She rushed to his side. "Oh, Will, of course I do. I just said that so you two would stop fighting." She kissed him, and then turned to Jack. "And as for _you_, Jack Sparrow…" She walked to him and positioned her head so she was looking into his chocolate eyes. "As for you…"

She stepped backwards and slapped him as hard as she could. Jack swore then placed his hand softly on his cheek. "I s'pose I deserved that," he commented in his extremely sexy accent.

Elizabeth glared at him. "Yes, I suppose you did." Jack then placed his arm around Will's neck as if they hadn't been struggling to kill each other thirty seconds before. "So, now that we've all accepted the fact that Miss Elizabeth did indeed kiss me, can we move onward?"

Elizabeth's mouth dropped slightly downward and she knit her eyebrows. "Me? Kiss you? Jack, I seem to recall that you kissed me first; I simply let you." Jack smiled a little. "That, Elizabeth, is where you are wrong. You kissed _me_ first, handcuffed me to the Pearl, then you left me to rot."

Elizabeth glared at him. "You no good, rotten, cheating, son of a—"

"-pirate. I am a no good, rotten, cheating, son of a pirate. And you, Miss Swann, are nothing short of a wench."

Suddenly Elizabeth was standing not even two inches away from Jack. She was scowling. "Don't you _ever_ call me that…that word again. Do you understand me? Never." She then turned defiantly and stood next to Will. The corner of Jack's lips arced upward in the exact same smile he smiled after their kiss.

"Pirate." He stated simply.

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Will and rested her head on his shoulder. "No, Jack, you are a pirate. I am nothing like you."

"Oh, but you are, Elizabeth. More than you will probably ever know."

At this Elizabeth scoffed and started off very quickly, leaving Will and Jack alone again. The two were noiseless but for the scraping of their boots on the sand for quite a few minutes. Jack took out his compass. He closed his eyes, opened the compass, and unclosed his eyes. The indicator was pointing to Elizabeth. He shook the compass to test its accuracy. The needle wavered a bit, but still pointing towards Elizabeth. "Ol' Jack doesn't know what he wants," Jack muttered to himself, a bit surprised.


	9. A Child in a Man's Body

Elizabeth trudged on, confused. Even though she stood up for Will she wasn't sure which man she loved. She was engaged to Will; however, Jack kept coming onto her, and to tell the truth, it was very flattering.

No. Jack was a crusty old pirate who just shallow. But…he also was Elizabeth's dear friend; practically one of the only friends she had. And he could have killed Will or Elizabeth anytime, but he didn't.

Well, he probably just kept Will around because he was Bootstrap's son, and Elizabeth supposed the he just kept her because, like she said, he was inescapably shallow.

Or was he? Jack sometimes revealed, Elizabeth thought, a better side of him. "You're a good man, Jack Sparrow," she sighed, a bit sadly.

All of a sudden an idea formed in her head. It wasn't whole just yet-- simply a moiety, and she didn't know what she was going to do after she took it into plan; but it was there, and she was going to take advantage of it.

She turned to Jack, some feet behind her. "Jack. Jack, I need to see your compass."

Jack raised a dark ebony eyebrow. "Oh? And just why do you need it, pray tell?"

"I need it, Jack. Please just give it to me."

"Not until you tell me why."

"Ugh! Jack Sparrow, sometimes I'd swear you were a child trapped in a man's body. You can be so daft."

"Daft like Jack!" he piped up happily, "and I will not give you the compass unless you fancy tellin' me why you're wanting it."

Elizabeth stomped her foot in the sand, making a 'thud' sort of noise. "Oh…all right, fine. I want to get the bloody heck out of here, savvy?" only she didn't say heck.

Jack looked a tad surprised at Elizabeth's choice of words, but nodded. "Inescapably savvy," he said. He searched the compartments of his coat and finally found the compass in a pocket on the inside. Elizabeth bet he didn't even know that pocket was there until he looked for it. He handed the compass to her. It was about as big as an apple and was heavy for what it was/.

She took it and thought very hard about getting out of this place very much alive, with Will and Jack.

She looked down at it. Jack was bent over, staring at the compass's needle; it was pointing almost immediate north. "Why're you looking at it?" Elizabeth inquired.

"One word, love," he replied, and Elizabeth smiled. "Curiosity," she finished.

Jack straightened his figure and clapped his hands together. "Well, gentleman and/or woman, I do believe we have our heading."

Will cocked his head. "Oh? Where are we going?" he asked Jack. Jack nudged Elizabeth. "Do it again!" he said.

"Do what again?"

"The compass, use the compass!"

"So impatient!"

Elizabeth acquired the compass and looked at its indicator. It was still pointing north.

"North!" Jack exclaimed, heading that way.

Elizabeth chuckled to herself knowingly. "Just like a child trapped in a man's body," she mused.


	10. Wobbly legged, rum soaked PIRATES!

Will was now a good ten feet ahead of Jack and Elizabeth. There was an uncomfortable silence between the pirate and the governor's daughter, so Jack cleared his throat. "Yes?" Elizabeth responded.

"How are things between you and young William there?" He nodded towards Will.

"Fine. Why do you ask?" she inquired.

"There seems to be a sort of…tension, I guess I should say, between you two."

"I dare say it's none of your business," Elizabeth responded curtly.

"I dare say it is," Jack replied.

"Ugh!" Elizabeth huffed then walked quickly away. Jack hastened his pace to catch up with her. "C'mon, love, if you don't want to tell me you don't have to. Just tryin' to make conversation, is all."

"I appreciate the effort, Jack, but I'd really like to get out of here. Is there even a way out? How do we know it doesn't go on forever?"

"Nothing lasts forever, love. Not even the devil 'imself, Davy Jones, can make a desert with no end. It's just not possible."

"Yes, but what if it is?"

"I don't think you've been listening to me, love. It cannot go on forever. There is a way out of Davy Jones' locker, I assure you. It's finding said way out that I'm not that assured about."

"I used to think you were assured about everything, Jack Sparrow."

Jack chuckled. "You thought wrong, love. Jack knows a lot about a lot of things, but not everything."

"I'm surprised you admit it, Jack."

"Don't be surprised at anything I do, love."

Elizabeth looked at him sideways and found that he was looking at her, too. Her eyes immediately darted downwards.

"Love, if you're nervous, you should go talk to William up there. Not me."

"Stop calling me 'love'. I am not your love."

"If you say so, love."

Elizabeth yelled out in frustration. "Do you enjoy pestering me? Is that it?"

"I get a bit of enjoyment out of it, yes. Why do you ask?"

"Sometimes, Jack, I wish I'd never even met you." Elizabeth surprised herself and Jack with the coolness and calm in her voice.

"Y'don't really mean that. You know you don't."

"And what if I do? Jack, you know absolutely nothing about me. You've only known me for, what, six months, maybe a year? I've known Will since I was insert age here."

"Now Elizabeth, don't bring young William into this. You know what he's like in a fight," Jack joked.

"_Ugh!_ That is it! That is absolutely and inevitably the last straw! I've had it! I've had it with wobbly-legged, rum soaked PIRATES!"

"Well, then, you best start gettin' used to 'em. You are one. Except for the wobbly-legged part, the description suits you to a T."

"I am not a pirate," Elizabeth hissed defiantly.

"Yes, you are. But I mean that in the loosest sense of the word, love." At this Elizabeth huffed and stomped towards Will and away from Jack.


	11. Abruptly Ending

Davy Jones sat at his organ. He clenched and unclenched his claw in morbid vexation. In it was the drawing of the key to the Dead Man's Chest, where he had laid his heart. Now it was gone, and all thanks to Jack Sparrow. That man had been the cause of all his problems lately. First he'd gone and told Bootstrap's son about the key, then he'd fended off his Kraken, and then he stole Davy's heart. Now, Davy had heard from one of his crew members that Jack was close to finding the way out of his locker. Davy cocked his head. What happened when the Kraken swallowed his heart, he wondered. He smirked a bit when he imagined the Kraken exploding, Kraken innards flying everywhere. His inquiries were interrupted by the thought that if the Kraken exploded, he'd have no one to kill his enemies. He grumbled; he could never win.

He looked sadly at the heart-shaped music box on his organ. He wrapped his tentacle-like hand around it and opened it slightly. A sad, melodic cry filled the small room as his eyes closed. His thoughts were cut short as someone interrupted the wordless assonance. "Cap'n? Er, where exactly are we headed?" It was Bootstrap. Davy growled deeply, and then sighed. "Isla Cruces. That's where Sparrow and the Pearl were eaten, and that's where they'll be when they're out." Bootstrap nodded grimly and walked out of Davy's room to tell the others. The music reminded Davy that he hadn't shut the music box yet, and he tapped his claw against the top of it. It stopped abruptly. _Just like everything in my life,_ Davy thought_. My love life, my life, my feeling. They all ended just as suddenly as the music._

1


	12. Bloody Sun

The new morning found Will squinting into the distance at a very, very large dark blob. He nudged Elizabeth, who was sleeping next to him and drooling onto the sand. "'Liz' Beth. Lizzie, wake up." Elizabeth opened her eyes and squinted immediately. "Bloody sun," she muttered, sitting up drowsily. "What is it? Why'd you wake me up?" She turned to Will. Will pointed a finger at the blob. "Tell me. What are the chances that that is the _Pearl_?" He looked at her, his sight unfocused due to the fact that he had just woken up. "Will, if that were the_ Pearl_, wouldn't we have seen it last night when we went to sleep?" She spoke as if she was explaining something to a child. "Not necessarily. We could have…" He tried to think of a levelheaded reason, but he couldn't. He craned his neck around to look for any signs of Jack, but he wasn't there.

"Hmm...Where's Jack?" he wondered aloud.

At this Elizabeth perked up a bit and also looked around them. "I don't know. Not here. Maybe that blob-thing is him."

"No, too big. It has to be the _Pearl_, I know it."

Elizabeth hopped to her feet, but slowly. "If you want to go and have a look, be my guest. I'll stay here and look for Jack."

"What if it is the _Pearl_ and Jack is on it?"

That got Elizabeth's attention. She sighed, stood up, and brushed the sand off her bum. "Then I suppose we best see what it is." Will rolled his eyes; more walking. The two headed towards the _Pearl /_blob.


	13. Only One Woman

Will was right. It was the Pearl, and Jack was indeed on it. Elizabeth almost ran up to Jack and hugged him, but then realized Will was watching, so she merely nodded her head. Will shook Jack's hand. "Great job, mate. Now all we've got to do is find our way out of here."

Jack shrugged. "Hell if I know. But I'd love to just get the feel of—" He grabbed the (steering wheel, darn it! C) and just as he did, the ship started rising, and so did the sand. Will was looking over the side of the Pearl. Elizabeth immediately shut her eyes as they violently headed upwards. She would have fallen down were it not for the fact that she grabbed one of the big pole thingies.

When she opened her eyes, they were heading smoothly upward, but Will was gone. She let go of the pole thingy and peered around. No sight of Will. A myriad of situations were going through her head. "Will?" she called out desperately. There was no reply.

Jack was grinning broadly and waiting for the sand vortex to be through. Elizabeth stumbled to where he was footing, for it is very hard to move about when you are going increasingly up. She leaned on the bulkhead right behind Jack. "Jack?" she strained. "Jack, have you seen Will?"

"William? No, I can't say I've seen him since you two got on the _Pearl_."

Elizabeth's hand flew to her cheek and she let out a small gasp. "Oh," she whimpered in disbelief.

"What is it, love?"

"Will—he's gone…probably dead by now; oh, I'd wager everything I had that he's dead! Fallen out of the _Pearl_, into the sand! Oh, he's dead!" She was breathing very hard and had to steady herself by placing her hand on the bulkhead.

It scared Jack; he had never seen Elizabeth cry before. He sat down and stopped steering. She sat too. He scooted closer to her and patted her awkwardly on her back. "There, there, love. It'll be all right." Jack had never been in this situation before.

"It's just, he was my best friend…" Elizabeth sniffled and bent her neck so she could wipe her nose on her sleeve.

Jack looked at her sympathetically. "You know, love, not too long ago a dear friend of mine gave me a piece of advice, and I think I'd like to pass it on to you." Elizabeth peered up at him, expecting him to say something about never losing faith or hope, or not giving up.

He didn't. Instead he cupped his hand firmly on her shoulder and said, "Best not wallow in our grief. Now, if you'll pardon me," he ignored Elizabeth's shocked gaze. "I believe I have a ship to captain."

Elizabeth looked at him as if he were mentally unstable. She quickly stood up and stopped Jack from heading toward the (steering wheel). "Are you _mad_? Will is- is dead, and all you can say is 'best not wallow in our grief'?!" Her voice cracked on the word _grief_.

Jack shrugged. "Live and learn, love. I have lived and I have learned to move on."

Elizabeth gaped at him. "You're just unfeeling. You're cruel and heartless and don't know how to love."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "Let me tell you something, Elizabeth. I am Captain Jack Sparrow. I have fought many fights, made many enemies, and many allies. I've lost friends and crew members. I have seen men die at my expense and men die due to things entirely unrelated to me. I have been with many women but loved only one with a passion that I'm not sure you understand, darling. That is me. Do not tell me I'm cruel or heartless. Don't tell me I can't love. Savvy?" He was staring at her and breathing steadily.

Elizabeth cocked her head and squinted, as if seeing Jack in a different light. "Well, Jack." She said finally. "I'm sorry."

"'s all right, love."

There was an awkward silence and Elizabeth shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "So, uh…Jack. If it's not too personal or secret, I can understand, but, ah…exactly who was the woman you loved? ...Love?"

A mischievous grin practically split Jack's features in two. "Oh, so we're _jealous_, are we? I didn't know you had those sorts of _feelings_ for me!"

"Oh, don't be daft, Jack, I was just curious, that's all."

"You know, love, the last time our conversations delved into the topic of curiosity, some _very_ interesting things happened…"

"Oh, shut it, please. Just because Will is dead, that doesn't mean I'm still not taken!"

"Oh, really? Are you? Because last time I checked, the only men you could be taken by is the late William Turner or I. Personally, I prefer the latter."

Elizabeth groaned and rolled her eyes. "Jack, must you consistently chase me so?"

Jack turned to her and tapped his pointer finger lightly on his bandana. "Yes. I must because now that dear, dead William is gone, I can."

"Jack, I swear, sometimes you are so…" she tried to think of an adjective fit for the likes of a man like Captain Jack Sparrow.

"Handsome? Witty? Sexually provocative?" Jack suggested with a wicked grin.

Elizabeth swatted him lightly on the arm. "Captain Sparrow! Your tongue!"

"What about my tongue? Do you want to taste it?"

"Jack Sparrow! I—"

"Captain."

"Whatever. _Captain_ Jack Sparrow, I was going to say forward, or bold, or increasingly annoying."

"Meh." Jack waved her away as he steered away from Isle Cruces. "I have to get us away from here love," he said as he glanced at the horizon, seeing a large black ship. "Far, far away from here…" he muttered.

4


	14. HIATUS, KIDS

Hiya, kids!

I bet you were expecting another chapter in my exciting story, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Well, I'm sorry. You're not getting one for a while, I'm afraid.

I'm going on a **_HOLIDAY HIATUS!_**

(For those of you who do not know what 'hiatus' or—God help us—'holiday' means, it means I won't be updating for about two weeks or so, due to Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanza and all that jazz.) D Soyeah. I am so sorry, but I'm working on another chapter. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Kwanza. Whatever other holiday you celebrate, have a good one.


	15. Let Them Taste the Triple Guns

Davy Jones couldn't believe his eyes as he watched the _Black Pearl_ rise from the Locker. His jaw dropped; he couldn't fathom how they had escaped. As the _Pearl_ drew closer and closer, he snapped back to reality. His eyes narrowed and he turned to find his crew staring at him. "What?" he spat. One with a hermit crab for a head looked downward and said, "Well, Captain, we were…" he broke off and looked up at Davy. "We were wondering if we were going to attack."

Davy's features fell into a gape as he looked at his crew. "Of course we're attacking you morons!" he yelled at them after receiving some very dim stares. "Why d'you think we're here? Enjoyin' the scenery, perhaps?" The crew of the _Flying Dutchman _was quiet but for a cough that came from the back.

"Well?" Even though they were outside, it seemed that Davy's voiced echoed throughout the sky, throughout the world. "Let them taste the triple guns," he sneered, turning abruptly to face the _Black Pearl_, which was nearer and nearer every moment.

xoxoxo

Jack was sitting down on his bed in his cabin and thinking. He knew he shouldn't be thinking at a time like this (a ship was closing in on them, he knew,) but the thing he was thinking of required a very deep train of thought, and he couldn't do that kind of thinking whilst getting out of a corner. What was this subject which had Jack so consumed?

Women. Jack could not for the life of him understand women or why they did the things they did. One moment you were pushed up against one of the bulkheads kissing her and the next she had shackled you to that very bulkhead, and you were doomed to eternal damnation.

…Okay, so that's not the usual case, but it's what happened to him. But though he resented Elizabeth for what she did to him, at the same time he admired her. She had done what was in her best interest, and he admired that quality. He was finding that her personality more and more reflected that of his each and every day. It interested him that someone he had met by mere chance was someone he could not go two hours without thinking of. Jack lay down and looked at the ceiling and as he did, he muttered to himself, "I daresay I'm falling in love with her."

He winced. Love was a very stupid thing to fall into, you always ended up hurt. That's why Captain Jack Sparrow did not do love. It was not in his nature, and he had done everything in his power to avoid it. But how could he have known that when he saved the governor's daughter that he would end up having such feelings for her?

He pondered this for a while then sat up and headed off to fight the man whose ship was circling Jack's own. "'Ello, fishface.." he said as he stretched his arms and prepared for a battle.

2


	16. Chapter 16

Oh my goodness, I am SO, SO, SO sorry for the time it's taken me to write this. I hope that you like it, and that all you wonderful people forgive me for taking so long. Well, read on, and enjoy!

As the _Flying Dutchman _came closer into view, the realization of the fault in his plan came crashing down like thunder on Jack's mind: just he and Elizabeth alone could not face the _Dutchman'_s crew of sixty or so, even with the _Pearl_. This was not good. He didn't even have his usual crew with him.

The thought of his crew reminded Jack: where _was_ his crew? Why had only Will and Elizabeth come to rescue him and not Gibbs and Cotton and Marty and the rest of them? It was odd, to be sure.

"Captain!" Oh, great. What would his moment of sorrow be without Gibbs's voice to haunt him?

"Captain!" There it was again. Why was he even hearing Gibbs's voice? He wasn't going insane, was he?

Something bumped into the _Pearl_, jolting Jack out of his musings. Had he run afoul of the reef? He grumbled as he looked over the side of the ship and gasped. A rowboat had collided with the ship, but it wasn't the rowboat that surprised him. It was the people _in_ the rowboat.

"Gibbs! Pintel! Marty! And, uh, you with the one eye! Oh, Tia Dalma, you're lovely as ever."

Jack pulled the ragtag crew on to the ship, but he stopped when he saw a character in the far back of the boat. "Well. Barbossa. Now here's an unexpected twist."

"Ah, Jack, it does me heart good to see you in a situation what you can't talk your way out of." Barbossa nodded toward the _Dutchman_.

"You've cheated your way out of death once, mate, don't tempt me again."

Elizabeth emerged from the crew's quarters. She rubbed her eyes with her fists and then stretched.

"Ah, Miss Elizabeth," Barbossa grinned and Jack couldn't help but noticed that he had apple pulp stuck in places all over his teeth. "I never thought I'd see you again." He sent a withering look towards Jack. "Then again, I didn't think I'd see the light o'day again, either." Jack resisted the urge to run Barbossa through.

Elizabeth gaped at Barbossa. "You told us you'd meet us in the Locker! Where _were_ you?!" Her voice was shrill.

Barbossa pointed a wary finger at Pintel and Ragetti. "Well, we woulda been here earlier," Ragetti said sheepishly, "but I sort of, er…lost our compass…"

"_Lost_ it?" Pintel yelled. "You threw the bloody thing overboard because you was made at me 'cos I told you that we was LOST!"

"We were _not_ lost! I just…didn't know where we were." Ragetti blushed and studied his boots.

"Wait!" Jack exclaimed. "You—" he jabbed a finger at Elizabeth. "You knew that this scum was alive? You knew that they were coming?"

"Well, yes. You really think we'd come to save you alone? We needed someone to tell us where World's End was, and Tia Dalma helped us with that; and Barbossa helped us sail to the Kraken; and Pintel and Ragetti…well, they're good company." The two beamed at this and straightened their posture, as if they were trying to impress further compliments.

"Well, all dat is said and done and we're here now, hmm?" Tia Dalma was sitting down and looking around. "William. Where is he?" she asked, standing up and walking towards where Jack and Elizabeth stood. Elizabeth burst into tears. "Er…there was an unfortunate accident, and poor William was thrown off the _Pearl_." Jack explained.

Tia Dalma breezed to Elizabeth's side and said in a calming tone, "Don' worry, child, William is all right. He is alive."

"What?!" Jack and Elizabeth said at the same time. Tia nodded. "He is not well, no, but he is unharmed."

Elizabeth pounded Tia Dalma with questions. "Not well? How do you mean? Where is he? Where's Will?"

Tia lowered her head. "He is not well because he is in captivity. I know this is not the best time to tell you, but William Turner has been captured by Cutler Beckett."


	17. Promises

Lord Cutler Beckett paced to and fro, thinking. His captive, Will Turner, was bound in a corner. He sat at his desk and tapped his fingers on it. "Well, Mr. Turner," he said, "it seems that Davy Jones is engaging in a pirate-y word for battle with your comrade Jack Sparrow."

Will's legs jerked in an attempt to kick Beckett. "I should be there," he growled. "Elizabeth surely thinks I'm dead."

"Ah, yes. Miss Swann. Your fiancée. Terribly sorry about that, by the by. Interrupting your marriage." Cutler shrugged. "Personally, I don't think the wedding would have been of the best interest for either of you."

Will clenched his fists and asked why.

"Oh, I don't think she loves you." Beckett said matter-of-factly.

"Shut up, scum!" Will roared, struggling to liberate himself from the binds that held him, but to no avail. He glared ferociously at the evil man. "You—you know nothing of love. Elizabeth does love me. We're going to be married; but before that, I'm going to make you suffer at the hands of Jack Sparrow. I'm going to sit by and watch as he carves out a hole in your body, and while you're hurting and drowning in a pool of your blood, right when you've reached the zenith of your pain, that's when I'll shoot you."

Beckett smirked. "Promises, promises. Those are fearsome threats, Mister Turner, but in case you've forgotten," he patted a bulging burlap sack tied to his belt, "right now I am the most powerful man in the world. I own the heart of Davy Jones. Speaking of whom, we've got to catch up with him."

He placed his hands on the sack, closed his eyes, and all was silence in his office in Port Royal but for Will's heavy breathing. Beckett opened his eyes and seemed satisfied.

Will was suspicious. "What did you do?"

"Oh, I simply ordered Davy Jones to, if possible, have one of those sea-things of his run Miss Swann through." He reached for a sword leaning against his desk, inspected the blade, and chipped something off with his thumbnail.

"You insert colorful language here!" Will yelled with all his might. "You can't kill Elizabeth! That's murder! You'll never get away with it!" Beckett simply turned to him and smiled.

"Watch me."


	18. Pirates Just Don't Share Feelings

Elizabeth's mouth dropped. "He's what, now?" she asked in a weak voice. Tia Dalma rested her hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.

"While you—" she nodded to Elizabeth and then Jack "—while you were looking for the _Black Pearl_ in Davy Jones's locker, Cutler Beckett snuck on to the ship. When you found and boarded it, Beckett pushed William off." She shrugged. "I don't know how they survived the fall, but they're both alive." There was silence.

Jack coughed and said uncomfortably, "Er, I suppose we have to, ah, rescue young Will now?"

Elizabeth turned on him. "You're bloody right we're going to rescue him!" Ragetti raised his hand submissively. "Ah, sorry to interject, but, uh, we're in a bit of a…situation at the moment." He pointed his thumb towards the _Dutchman_. But when the crew turned to see Jack's reaction, he was gone.

Jack was in his cabin, frustrated. He kicked the wall of his cabin, and a sword that he'd picked up from one of his escapades in Africa fell off the wall, but he didn't bother to pick it up. He fell down on his bed. "Darn and drat it all, William! I almost had Elizabeth! She was _almost_ mine! And then you had to go and…live!" He scowled and rubbed his forehead. "I was this close to kissing her again! She had nearly forgotten about you. Why'd you go and ruin it for us? She doesn't even love you! She loves me!" He kicked the foot of his bed on the last word. He had made up his mind long ago: If he couldn't have Elizabeth, no other woman would do. She was perfect for him, and she couldn't even see it. He'd lied when he had told her that things would have never worked out between them.

Jack remembered the _Dutchman_ outside. He couldn't face a fight right now. No, he'd avoid it for this moment. Thoughts about Elizabeth were still looming in his mind as he reemerged. His crew looked at him on tenterhooks. "Gibbs?" he called to Mr. Gibbs, who was waiting for instructions on when and where to sail.

"Captain?" Gibbs replied.

"I have an intuition. Let's not face ol' fishface right now. Let's just turn around, eh?"

"Erm, alright?"

"Jack, you can't run away from all of your problems. Why don't you stay?" Elizabeth's hand lightly touched his arm.

"Because, ah, I want to find and rescue Will as soon as possible." Surely that reason would suffice for Elizabeth. She frowned in thought.

"Well, I suppose we can fight later…"

_Score!_ Jack silently thanked Allah and Buddha and Jesus and God and various other deities and idols he'd picked up from his travels.

He strutted to the railing of the _Pearl_ and waved goodbye to Davy Jones with a flick of his wrist.

xoxoxo

It was night. Jack wasn't sleeping, and neither was Gibbs. They were sitting in silence, Gibbs steering the ship and Jack simply sitting.

Gibbs chuckled as he glanced at Jack thinking. "You might have fooled Elizabeth with that 'wantin' to save Will' phooey, but you didn't pull the wool over my eyes." Jack didn't respond.

"Why do you hide your feelings about her?" Gibbs asked knowingly.

"How do you mean?"

"You know she shouldn't marry Will. I know she shouldn't marry Will. And I think we both know who she ought to be with."

"Because…I don't want to hurt William's feelings?" Jack was not used to talking about his feelings. Pirates just didn't talk about their feelings.

Mr. Gibbs shook his head and rested his hands on the steering wheel. "Whatever you say, Jack, but you best tell her sooner or later, or it'll blow up right in your face."

Jack waved off his warning and headed towards his cabin, a lot on his mind.

3


	19. Another Thing Coming

As he watched the _Black Pearl_ sail away from him, Davy Jones felt the need to do two things: kill that girl that Jack was after, the one that kissed him before he died, and to follow the _Pearl_ to wherever it was headed. But if the _Pearl_ was sailing with the wind, the Dutchman had no chance of catching up with it. Jones was infuriated. He thrust his claw against a bulkhead, leaving a dent of some sorts. Sparrow had escaped him again! Could he never win? Was he always so unlucky? Davy shook his head and limped to his organ room. A crew member knocked on his door.

"Go away," Jones muttered.

"But Captain, the _Black Pearl_ is leaving." Jones rolled his eyes. _Remind me once more, why don't you, _he thought bitterly. "Are we going to follow it?

"No, no. Chart course for Port Royal."

"Port Royal, sir?"

"Aye. I've got business to take care of."

"Aye, Cap'n."

xoxoxo

Jack was underwater. He swam towards an obscured figure in the water, and as he neared it, it started to take shape: a woman. She was unconscious and sinking due to the soaking weight of her dress. He grabbed hold of her as best he could, and he started swimming to the surface.

He reached the façade of the water, but not without some strain. Jack climbed on a dock and laid the woman down. Her long hair was covering her face. Jack ripped her dress open and stumbled backwards when he saw a hole in the corset encircled by blood. He reached a trembling hand out to move the hair from her face.

He couldn't believe whose lifeless eyes he was staring at.

"Lizzie?"

xoxoxo

Jack woke in a cold swear. He was back on the _Black Pearl_. It had just been a dream, but he couldn't shake its lifelike quality. He threw off the blanket covering him, got out of bed, ran to where Elizabeth was sleeping in her hammock, and shook her awake. "Elizabeth? Lizzie? Wake up!"

She opened and rubbed her eyes. "Eh? Whoozat?"

Jack started feeling area around her stomach. "Are you hurt? Is it bleeding?"

"Jack, what the blazes are you talking about? Nothing's bleeding! I'm not hurt, but I'm beginning to question your sanity…"

Jack smiled. "It's alright, that's normal. So…you're not shot?"

"Shot? No, why would you think I was shot?"

"Er…no reason."

"Tell me! Why did you think someone shot me? Did you hear a gunshot?"

"I told you, no reason. And I didn't hear a gunshot, no." He feigned a yawn. "Well, I am lethargic! I think I might just fall asleep right here!" He fluttered his kohl-lined eyelids, and swooned; his head fell on her perfectly whole, non-shot stomach.

"Jack! Jack, get off! Get off of me!" She shoved him, but he didn't budge. "If you think you're staying here all night, Captain Sparrow, you have got another thing coming!"

_Ooh, I've got another thing coming_, Jack thought sarcastically, for he was not asleep.

As the night progressed, Jack and Elizabeth did finally fall asleep. Jack had gotten all the way onto the bed, and was lying next to her.

xoxoxo

As Jack came out of Elizabeth's room, stretching, Barbossa stared questioningly at him. "What were you doing in there?"

"Getting another thing coming," Jack yawned.


	20. They Might Be Werewolves

**A/N: Ha-ha, sorry it took me so long. I was thinking about it, and had temporary writer's block, but it was nothing a little All-American Rejects, The Killers, My Chemical Romance, Weird Al Yankovic, and Nelly Furtado couldn't fix. :D**

The loyal Fanfic readers were right—the rumours that the pirate was sleeping with the governor's daughter spread like wildfire. Crew members—all but Tia Dalma and Mr. Gibbs—avoided eye contact with Jack and Elizabeth, and spoke with the two as little as possible; and, frankly, Jack was sick of it. He cornered Barbossa and poked him in the chest. "Now, see here. What's with all the evasion? Hardly anyone has spoken to me lately, and when I told Pintel to make sail the bunt gasket, and he just walked away and made Cotton do it! Why is everyone acting so strange?" He looked around to make sure no one was listening, and then leaned in to Barbossa. "Are they werewolves?"

Barbossa choked. He hit himself in the chest a few times to clear his throat of the spit that had blocked his trachea. He laughed breathily, but stopped when he realized that Jack was being serious. "Were…Werewolves? You think they're werewolves?"

"The signs are all there! There's due to be a full moon in about half a fortnight, and do you know when werewolves get irritable and tense? A _fortnight before_!" he shrieked.

Barbossa was nearly doubled over with laughter by this point. Jack frowned, put his hands on Barbossa's shoulders, and shook him. "Do you hear what I'm saying, mate? It's no laughing matter! We're all going to be turned into hairy, uncivilized beasts!"

Barbossa couldn't resist. "Well, Jack, I think it's a bit too late for you…"

"Shut up!"

He shook his head and placed his hand on Jack's shoulder, "Maybe the reason everyone's avoiding you is 'cos you came out of Elizabeth's cabin…"

Jack laughed. "Oh, that? Does everyone think I...I slept with her? Please." He hoisted himself up onto a bulkhead and into the crow's nest. He cupped his hands over his mouth. "Oi, everyone, listen up, your attention if you please," he yelled. The crew's awareness was averted to their captain standing above them. "It has been brought to my attention that you all think I slept with Miss Swann here." He pointed to where Elizabeth was gaping at him and looking like she was ready to bash his skull in with the mop she was holding. "I'm afraid you have been sorely mistaken. I was in her cabin because I heard a gunshot and I thought she had been hurt. I would have checked on the rest of you first, but my intuition told me to see Elizabeth first. Terribly sorry for the mix-up; won't happen again." The crew seemed to accept this reason and resumed their crew-ly duties, but Tia Dalma frowned at Jack; she had an air of disbelief about her. Jack nodded his head curtly, then slid down to the deck on a rope holding up a sail. As he headed towards the wheel, Elizabeth stepped in front of him, and she was _furious. _

"What was _that_?" she demanded in a shrill voiced.

"_That_, my dear, was a rope." He smiled and patted the rope. "And this," he ignored Elizabeth's look of vehemence, "this is a bulkhead. It's made of wood." He stretched the word out so she could understand it; he said it like woo-oo-oo-od.

"I know what the bloody thing's called, you sod! I _meant_ what was that display you put on up there?!" She jerked her head towards the crow's nest. "You outspoken little…You…You…" She was shaking. Elizabeth cried out. "Augh!" She turned on her heels and stomped to her cabin.

"Aw, c'mon, Lizzie, don't walk away! Would it help if I said I was sorry?" She stormed out to yell a resounding "no!"

Jack growled. "Women…"


	21. Was it a Rope, or something else?

**A/N: Thank you for all your reviews—you keep me going. Honestly, if I hadn't posted this on Fanfic, and you wouldn't have seen it, I would have stopped, oh, thirteen chapters ago? Yeah. But I did, and you did, and I didn't. So all is right with the world. :D**

**On the other end of the spectrum, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, Cam910? A simple **_**one**_** flame would suffice! But nineteen? **_**Nineteen?**_** Why? What could you possibly gain from repeating yourself eighteen bloody times? And 'your next chapter better be longer'? Is that a threat? Good Lord, you've got me worked up. But I am **_**pissed**_** at you! Don't do it again, or I will block and report you, I promise I will. Kay? Kay. :D**

Cutler Beckett took deep breaths as he slept, but not for long. The consistent _plink_-ing of pebbles hitting his window stirred him from his slumber. He grumbled incoherently, something about freedom, and rose from his divan. He stumbled to the window, for he had not quite totally woken up. He looked to the source of the pebbles and his eyes widened. It was a couple of crew members from the _Flying Dutchman_, and the projectiles weren't pebbles; they were tiny empty oyster shells. Davy Jones waited expectantly at the head of the ship, looking at Beckett. Beckett looked behind him; Will was sleeping. He waved to Jones, making a beckoning motion to come to his room so they could talk. Davy Jones nodded his head and Cutler remembered that the monster couldn't step on land for about eight more years. He sighed and headed down towards the _Dutchman_.

Once onboard the ship, Beckett crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. "Well? Jones? Did you kill Sparrow and Miss Swann?"

"No. I did not." Davy Jones was not one to mince words, and neither was Beckett.

"Why not?"

"He got away."

"He got away. He got away? That's fabulous, Jones, just fabulous." He tapped his foot a few times and stared Jones right in the eye. "Well, Mister Turner and I will just have to come with you."

"Excuse me?"

"I have Miss Swann's fiancé, William Tur—"

"I know you do. Why do you have to sail with us?"

"Because if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Cutler Beckett shook his head and climbed over the side of the ship onto the dock. He shoved the door of his building and he disappeared up the stairs. He searched his dark room for the figure of Will tied in the chair. His eyes rested on a large lump in the corner which was darker than the rest of the room. He kicked Will's thigh and growled. "Wake up, you sod."

Will grunted. "Wha…?"

"Get up."

"I kind of can't…"

Beckett fumbled for his knife on his desk and then felt for the ropes on the chair holding William.

"That's not the rope!" Will cried frantically. Beckett pulled his hand back disgustedly.

"Ugh!" He felt the rope (the _real_ rope this time) and sliced his blade swiftly across the binds. "There you go. Get up."

Will tried to stand, but his legs collapsed at the slightest application of pressure. "I…can't. I haven't stood in so long."

"HURRY UP!" The two men could hear Davy Jones shouting.

Cutler Beckett shouted in frustration. "You're just going to have to take it. Because I for one am not going to carry you."

Will sat down and stretched his legs, one after the other. He tried to stand again, and was successful this time. "Alright. We're good," he said. Beckett grabbed Will's hands and wrenched them behind his back.

"Move." He shoved Will with his knee. He grudgingly started taking unnecessarily slow steps. "_Move!_"

Soon they were on the Dutchman, and headed toward the _Black Pearl_.

**A/N: Seriously, guys, I really try. I used to be satisfied with three hundred words. Now I have to make my chapters six to seven hundred words. Maybe with time it'll get easier for me to write a whole lot, and maybe then I'll write twelve hundred word chapters. Till then, please, be nice, but don't lie. Don't be all, HOMGZ I LOVE IT EVERYTHING IS PERFECT when you don't like it at all. Make your opinion known but don't be mean about it.**

…**.I'll shut up now. R&R, kids.**

3


	22. Best Thing Since Canned Bread

**A/N: Hehe. Saltines taste good. D**

Captain Jack Sparrow rubbed the bandana on his forehead anxiously. He was sitting on his bed in his room in the _Pearl_ and he had an unsettled feeling in his abdomen. His thoughts were occupied by Elizabeth. (No surprise there…) He couldn't stand how much he enjoyed being around her. He was weak. _A kiss and I would surrender,_ he thought.

There was a knock at his door. He straightened his posture and pretended like he hadn't been deep in thought. "Come in," he commanded. The door cracked open and Elizabeth's head popped in.

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

"I was just checking in on you."

"I thought you were mad at me."

Elizabeth winced as she smiled grimly. "It really is rather hard to remain mad at you…"

"Hmm." He studied her eyes; they had no glint of sarcasm, no spark of deception. Patting a spot beside him on the bed, he asked her to sit. She did so, grateful that he believed her. The two sat beside each other, neither looking at the other, for a silent minute or two when suddenly Elizabeth's poise and grace disintegrated into tears. Jack's eyes enlarged. "Elizabeth? What did I do wrong now? Are you feeling alright?"

She sniffed and covered her tear-streaked face with her hands. "Oh, I'm so"—sob—"ashamed of"—sob—"of myself," she wailed.

" 's wrong, love?"

"Will loves me so, so much…" Jack didn't like where this was going. "And he's such a great man, he's my best friend, but…"

"But what?"

"But I just don't love him back!"

In the back of Jack's mind, he had known this was coming eventually, but he acted surprised all the same. "Oh?"

"Yes…"

"Well, erm, would you like to just…er…sit here and cry, then?"

She wiped some snot away from her nose with his bed sheet; he grimaced. "That's deerskin…" he muttered, but Elizabeth didn't hear him, because she was sobbing quite loudly. "Shh! Shh, Elizabeth, people could hear!"

The sobs ceased for the time being and Elizabeth frowned at Jack. "And?" she said insolently.

"And if they knew you were in here….erm…rumours could start?"

She heaved a loud, overdramatic sigh. "Well, as long as you have the lying tongue to fend off said rumours, why would you care?"

_Uh…what did she say? _"I, er, don't. Anymore. Cry all you like."

"You're strange…"

"I know." He smiled charmingly.

Elizabeth rubbed her eyes with the base of her palm.

"So…" He started. "You're very bothered by the fact that you, ah…don't love William?"

She scowled. "Wouldn't you be?"

Jack shifted uncomfortably. "I don't exactly look at Will that way… I mean, he's a great friend of mine, and he's… erm… rather handsome as far as they go, I suppose…"

She groaned and rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean it that way and you know it."

"You can never be too sure about these things, love."

"So I've learned."

They sat there in an expectant sort of silence. Jack slid closer to Elizabeth and positioned his hand gently on the small of her back. She shied away from him and muttered something. "What?" Jack knit his thick eyebrows.

"Woodnurrworkouttreeus," she said, a bit louder this time but still rather incoherent.

"You're gonna have to be a touch louder than that, love."

"It would never work out between us, Jack," she enunciated.

Jack sighed; he'd heard this before, but he'd always believed it to be true until now. "Why wouldn't it?"

"Oh, loads of reasons," Elizabeth stated, having clearly rehearsed this in her mind beforehand. "You're a pirate, and, well, I'm a governor's daughter."

Jack held up his index finger. "Now wait. You may be the spawn of some pompous, powder-wearing Redcoat, but that does not make you any less of a pirate than myself. You are a backstabber, a skilled swordsman—_woman_, sorry—and have been quite unfaithful to your fiancé."

She glowered. "I have been perfectly faithful, thanks very much. Name one time when I haven't."

"I seem to recall a certain kiss with a certain pirate captain…"

"Doesn't count."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "Is that what you think, then? It doesn't count? It bloody well does count, Miss Swann, because when you kiss someone as passionately as you did, you don't do it for wicked purposes; you do it out of love."

Elizabeth had a morbid look on her face. "You don't even know me, Jack Sparrow."

"Oh really? I know enough about you to know that A) you don't love Will, 2) you won't be happy with Will, and C) you'll be happy with me!"

"I don't believe a thing you're saying."

"Well you should, because I have a reason and it's actually logical this time."

"What's that?"

"Birds."

She wrinkled her nose. "Beg pardon?"

"Birds. I am Jack _Sparrow_, and you are Elizabeth _Swann_, and have you ever heard of a Turnerbird?"

Elizabeth laughed, and Jack thanked God when she did! "No, I don't suppose I have."

"Exactly. And that is why we were meant to be together, love."

She regained her less-than-cheerful disposition and shook her head. "No. It simply cannot be."

Jack opened his mouth to protest, but at that moment a strident pounding noise came from outside the door. "Come in," he said in the same tone he'd said it to Elizabeth.

Gibbs entered, a grave look on his face.

"What's wrong, mate?" Jack asked, worried.

"The _Flying Dutchman _is attacking us, Captain. Her crew wants to take one of us prisoner, I think…" He shrugged, indicating that he was just as clueless as they were.

"They've got Will, who more do they want?" Elizabeth said bitterly.

"Let's see." Jack pushed past the two and out the door. Gibbs followed after him and Elizabeth after Gibbs.

The scene outside was not what Jack or Elizabeth had been expecting. Cutler Beckett and Davy Jones were standing on either side of Will, who was bound many times over with rope to a bulkhead. Tia Dalma, Pintel, Ragetti, Cotton, and Barbossa were barricaded off behind about six crewmembers of the _Dutchman_. Elizabeth attempted to run to hold Will, but Cutler Beckett pulled a pistol out from behind his back and pointed the muzzle straight at her heart. "Touch him and die."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed and hate was traced in her every feature. "I'd rather die than live without him."

Cutler smiled grimly. "So be it."

As he pulled the trigger, three things happened: Will screamed "NO!" and tried to jerk free of the ropes but was knocked unconscious by a barnacle-encrusted club; Jack shoved Elizabeth out of the ball's path; and the bullet instead hit the door of Jack's cabin. Beckett swore then fumbled for another ball. "You're going to regret that, Sparrow," he muttered.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was held under Jack's protective arm, looking up at him like he was the greatest thing since canned bread. **((xDDD. Couldn't help myself, guys, srry. xDD))** "You saved my life," she marveled."

"So?" Jack's eyes were fixed upon Beckett who was still fumbling around in his pockets for a bullet.

"So that was a very noble thing to do. Thank you."

"Think nothing of it."

"Ah-hah!" Beckett pulled a lone ball out from a crack in a floorboard. He loaded his pistol and pointed it at Will's head.

Elizabeth's attention was averted from Jack to Will. "No," she gasped. "Not Will…" She stood up but she was hindered by two seamen. She stood on tiptoes and shouted, "If you shoot him, I'll kill myself."

Cutler distractedly tossed her a cutlass. "Then here's the sword to do it with. Because I'm going to shoot him."

Davy stepped forward and touched Beckett on the arm. "Hold up now. You might not want to do that," he muttered.

"Why not?"

"We'll have no one to use for bait…what will we do then?"

"We don't need bait anymore, we're right here."

"Trust me. Don't shoot him. Shoot the girl."

"Er…all right."

And in the blink of an eye, Beckett turned around and shot Elizabeth, right in the stomach.

**A/N: 1,385 WORDS! STICK THAT IN YOUR JUICE BOX AND SUCK IT! **

**BAHAHA. El cliffhanger! I betcha wanna know how it's gonna end, don't you? But too bad. 'Cos I'm not gonna tell you. –evil grin- Tootles, kiddies! **

6


	23. He's Not Dead Yet Monty Python Reference

"YOU –insert colorful language here…again…-!" Jack roared. He had never been so angry in his life. He laid Elizabeth down and grabbed his sword. "You'll die for that," he promised Beckett, whose eyes were wide with the realization of what he had done.

"Shoot the girl. Don't shoot Will, shoot Miss Swann! What were you thinking?!" he cried to Davy Jones.

Jones shrugged his shoulders. **((Does he even /have/ shoulders? Must pursue.))** "I just wanted a good fight."

"You IDIOT!" Cutler howled as Jack dropped his sword and opted to dive for Beckett's throat instead. The latter clawed to be free of the pirate's clutches, but Jack wasn't letting go.

"Jack! Captain! Don't kill him!" Gibbs shouted from behind the crew of the _Flying Dutchman_, all of whom were watching the spectacle with great amusement.

"Why shouldn't I? He killed Elizabeth. _He_ doesn't deserve to live!"

"No, he didn't!"

Jack paused from strangling Beckett (whose face returned to its normal color,) and frowned. "What?"

"He didn't."

"Didn't _what_?"

"He didn't kill her! Look at her; she's moving!"

Jack dropped Beckett and snapped his head around to see if he was right. He was! Elizabeth was picking the top half of her body up to lean on a wall. She wasn't dead; she'd just fainted! Jack gasped and rushed to her side. "Elizabeth, I'm so sorry…I…please, don't die, Lizzie." Mr. Gibbs had never seen him so vulnerable, so desperate.

Meanwhile, Beckett, Jones and Jones's crew were escaping onto the _Flying Dutchman_ with a still-unconscious Will in tow. Why they even came onto the _Pearl_ remained a mystery to her crew, but as long as Elizabeth was alive, no one really cared.

She smiled weakly up at Jack, but it was short-lived, as she winced due to the pain from the bullet wound in her stomach, which was producing a copious amount of blood. The midsection of her shirt and jacket were soaked red. Jack gasped as he realized that this was almost exactly like his dream. In fact, his dream was a combination of now and the first time he and Elizabeth had met. How could he have seen it right in his dreams and not taken any precautions? He hadn't

"It's alright, Jack," she whispered. "You tried." She groaned and her head dropped. Jack eased her body into his arms.

"She needs to rest. She needs a real bed, not a hammock or a cot." Tia Dalma diagnosed.

"She'll have mine," Jack proclaimed, and no one argued.

"Alright. Take her to your room, hmm?" she asked Jack. He nodded and headed started towards his room.

"But Captain!" Gibbs stopped him from entering. He turned around to face his first mate.

"Yes?"

"We need to get her to some medical ward. She won't make it if we don't."

"There's a monastery somewhere near Tortuga, I believe," Ragetti offered. "They take injured and sick chaps in for free. They're saints; they'll help."

Jack shook his head, the beads and oddities he'd tied into his hair making a tinkling noise as they brushed each other. "No. I'm not going to let my…I mean, Elizabeth go to some monkery. Show me a man with an empty head, a roving mouth, and no rum and I'll show you a monk."

Tia Dalma glared at him. "We're taking her to a monastery and that's final. Do you want her to die?"

He scowled and looked at his boots. "No."

"Okay then. We'd better chart course for Tortuga, then?"

Jack muttered, "Fine. But we're gonna go to the tavern first. Get me some rum."

xoxoxo

The crew was doing their obligations, i.e. mopping, watching for land, steering, etc., etc. Jack had taken Elizabeth to rest in his room and he had not come out since. He had ripped open her shirt and washed the blood off her skin with a damp piece of linen cloth. He sat and watched her sleep. She was so peaceful. He reached out to softly stroke her face, but he retracted his hand for fear he'd put an abrupt end to her state of calm and quiet. The creaking of the door interrupted his thoughts. Pintel came in with a crust of bread and some water. "She'll need to eat and drink." He offered the tiny meal to Jack. Jack smiled a small smile and thanked him.

"We'll be at the monastery in about six hours."

"Alright. Thank you. Again."

"Anything to make sure Elizabeth will be in good health." He shut the door behind him. Jack broke the bread, placed it in Elizabeth's mouth, and moved her jaw up and down to make her chew. He tried to make her swallow, but to no avail. He made her sit upright and patted her back.

That didn't quite make her swallow, but it did wake her up. She sputtered and coughed and the bread flew onto his bed sheets. "_What_ are you doing?" she shrieked at him.

"Good, you're awake. I was afraid you'd gone vegetable on me, darling. Now you've got to eat. Here's some bread and water, but I'm not feeding you this time."

She reached forward to pick up the bread she'd spit on the bed, but as soon as she tried, she moaned and tears filled her eyes, but did not leave them. "It hurts, Jack. It hurts so badly."

He smiled grimly and took her hand. "I know it does, but be strong. Be strong for Jack, eh?"

She motioned for him to hand her the bread. He did so. "I will try. I can not promise I'll be able to do it, but I will try for you."

An affectionate feeling arose in Jack's heart and he squeezed her hand securely. "That means a lot to me, love."

She sipped her water and nibbled her head and after a while she fell into a deep sleep. He watched her for about a half hour and then lay next to her, and soon he fell asleep also.

xoxoxo

Jack awoke to someone shaking him. "Jack. Jack, wake up, man." He opened his eyes but the person didn't come into focus until a few seconds later.

"Aw, Gibbs, why'd you have to wake me up? I was sleeping!"

"We've reached the monastery."

**A/N: And so are planted the seeds of betrayal…Kidding. My history teacher said that today and I just wanted to say it. What really applies to the story is "And so our hero is forced into the place he never thought he'd enter. **

**Oh, what fun I will have with Jack and a bunch of religious men! R&R, you know the drill.**


	24. Ah, But You HAVE Heard of Me

Carrying Elizabeth, Jack was leading the motley posse through the small town outside Tortuga. "Okay, so we're headed for the church-y building, right?" he asked Ragetti, ignoring the townspeople's stares. Ragetti nodded.

They reached a building with a steeple and stained glass windows. Jack scoffed. "Are you _sure_ this is the place?"

"Absolutely."

Reluctantly, Jack rapped his knuckle on the tall wooden door decorated intricately with interwoven carvings of flowers with the Virgin Mary in the center. The door opened to reveal a short, stout man with a bushy brown beard which matched his plain brown robe. He studied the crew of the _Black Pearl_. "Yes?" he regarded them cautiously.

"She's shot." Jack nodded down at Elizabeth. "She needs help."

"We don't take women. Good-bye," the monk said and promptly shut the door in Jack's face. Jack's mouth was gaping open and he turned to glare at Ragetti.

"I thought you said they took injured and sick in for free!"

"A—actually, I said they took in injured and sick_ chaps_ in…"

Jack shook his head furiously. "They're monks; they can't just reject people. Isn't that against the Bible, or something?"

Barbossa shoved him towards the door. "Knock again. _Make_ them take us in."

Jack sighed and, once again, knocked loudly upon the door with his knuckle. It opened once more and the same monk was standing there. "I told you, we don't take—"

"To heck with who you take and don't take! There is an injured woman here and if I've been informed correctly, you are the only place around here that can help. Please, please assist us. If you don't, you'll be disobeying…uh, the Bible. And I don't think God would be too pleased with that, _sir_." Jack's stare was boring into the monk's wide blue eyes, and the holy man was obviously alarmed by his performance. After a moment of staring, he disappeared behind the door and a clicking noise was heard.

The door opened further and he grumbled, "Come in." Jack nodded his thanks to the man, as did Tia Dalma, Barbossa, and Mr. Gibbs. The monk stopped the procession at Ragetti. "Ragetti? Is that you, old boy? It is! Why didn't you tell me you were back there in this…ah…odd crowd? Why, I haven't seen you since three years ago when—"

Ragetti cut his sentence short with a cautious look. "Er, we don't need to go there, Jebbediah. I'm glad to see you, too." He smiled, shook Jebbediah's hand, and turned to his friends. "Jack, Tia Dalma, Pintel, Cotton, Barbossa, this is my good friend Jebbediah."

The monk smiled brightly, his opinion about the crew obviously changed because of the fact that they knew Ragetti. "Call me Jeb, please."

Ragetti pointed to Elizabeth resting in Jack's arms. "That's Elizabeth. She needs the best care you can give." Jeb nodded.

"Right this way, sirs…and, uh, madams."

He led them through monks kneeling down saying Ave Marias, monks cooking, monks playing instruments. Finally, they came to a small room with beds lining either wall. Jack laid Elizabeth down on the first one they came to.

Jeb motioned for the rest to gather around the bed and to listen to him. "Alright. Breakfast is at five—"

"_Five_?" Jack looked at him as if he were insane. "Are you serious, mate?"

"You don't _have_ to eat. You can sleep in past then, you just won't eat."

Jack grumbled, "We made a mistake…," but he was shushed by Tia.

Jeb cleared his throat. "Anyway. Like I was saying previously, breakfast is from five o'clock to six thirty. Between seven o'clock and eight we pray. You don't have to, but we won't be available to help you during that period of time. From eight to twelve, we are available to do anything you need. Lunch starts at twelve and ends at one thirty. Dinner's at five and goes till seven, and then we pray, and at nine we go to bed. All this happens Monday through Saturday, but on Sunday we fast. We don't eat at all on the Sabbath, and neither will you. Do you have any questions?"

Jack's mouth was in a tiny 'o' of surprise. "That's all you do? Every single day?"

"Except for Sundays," Jeb interjected helpfully.

"Well," Barbossa said, "thank you for your assistance, but I assure you, we'll only be here for a few days."

Ragetti mumbled, "Welcome to the monastery…"

xoxoxo

Elizabeth awoke in a strange place. The ceiling was cavernous, the sheets were scratchy, and there were paintings of Jesus and the apostles and other biblical figures on the walls around her. She looked around her bed to see if there was anyone familiar here, and thank God, there was! Jack was resting in the bed next to her. She tried to get up, and she could. Surprisingly she couldn't feel the pain the bullet wound usually caused her. She wobbled over to Jack's bed and shook him.

"Jack? Jack, where are we? How did we get here? The last thing I remember is eating…oh, my goodness, Jack, did you put rum in that water? I thought it tasted funny!"

Jack chuckled. "No, I didn't put any rum in the water." His stomach rumbled and he grimaced. "But I _would_ like some rum, now that you mention it…" He yawned. "Oh. We're in a monastery in someplace outside of Tortuga. I was wrong about this place, it's heaven! They feed you fabulous food; you can do whatever you want;_ and_ they have excellent medical service!"

Speaking of which, a tall, young-looking monk came in with a vial filled with what looked like water and a tiny burlap sack. He saw Elizabeth and smiled. "Oh, good, you're awake." He strolled over to where her bed was and motioned for her to sit down. "Lie down, miss. It's time for your medicine."

Elizabeth cocked her head. "Medicine? What medicine?"

"I've been giving you a mixture of herbs and some medicinal water, but I can't pronounce its name, to dull the pain of that bullet wound." The man frowned. "How did you get shot, anyway?"

She waved away his question. "It's a long story."

He smiled warmly. "Well, anyway, I need to put this mixture on your wound, if you would be so kind. Oh, and call me Raphael, please." She looked down at her shirt.

"Well, Raphael…do I have to unbutton my shirt?" she asked, abashed.

Raphael blushed. "That, ah, would be best, yes." Jack's mouth went slack jawed and turned to Elizabeth with disbelief on his face.

"If it's going to make me better…,"she shrugged and loosened the bottom four buttons on her shirt so where the deep, dark red and black gash was showing right above her belly button. The monk popped the cork off of the vial, opened the tiny sack and poured some red-and-green aromatic plants into the glass container of the medicine, corked it again, and shook it so it made a brown-looking liquid.

"Now, this might sting a bit at first, but after a moment you won't feel the pain or the ache." He poured a tiny portion of the blend onto her wound; it did sting a little. She winced a bit, but lay down when he told her to and waited for it to dry. He gathered his things, and turned to them. "It's twelve thirty. You might want to get lunch." He said good-bye and left then. Jack sighed as he did.

"I don't like that guy," he leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"You're just jealous."

"Jealous? Me? Why would I be jealous of you?"

"No, not of me. Jealous of him."

"Alright, why would I be jealous of Raphael?"

"Because he got to touch my stomach." She was teasing him now.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Darling, I could 'touch your stomach' anytime I wanted to."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Like this!" He jumped on her bed and started tickling her. She started laughing and kicking her legs frantically and impulsively.

"Jack! Jack Sparrow, this is simply preposterous! You…" She couldn't finish her sentence, for he was still tickling her and she was laughing so hard.

When he finally stopped (about two minutes later, after a well-matched wrestle,) she sighed. "Good heavens, Jack, you have an inner child more prominent than anyone I have ever heard of."

Jack smirked. "Ah, but you _have_ heard of me."

"Yes. You're really nothing at all like the pirate I've read and heard stories about. _That_ Captain Jack Sparrow wouldn't go back for anyone. _That_ Captain Jack Sparrow wouldn't take the time for a simple governor's daughter."

"_That_ Jack Sparrow is of your stories and does not exist. I'm the real deal, love. Take it or leave it."

She looked at her boots. "I'll take it."

"What was that?"

"Oh…nothing. I'd really better be going to eat now. It's one o'clock and they won't be serving much longer. Would you care to come with me?"

"No thanks."

"Okay." She put her hands on the bed and pushed herself to a standing position. After she was out of the room Jack smiled brightly and yelled into the huge ceiling, "She loves _ME!_"

Outside the door, Elizabeth smiled to herself.

**A/N: My best (and longest) chapter yet, I think. Ah, but it doesn't **_**matter **_**what I think. What do YOU think, Mr. /Ms. /Miss/ Mrs. Reader? Tell me in a well-written review! KTHNXBAI.**


	25. Freedom

**A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! NO! NONONO! –After seeing POTC 3- **

**If you don't want me to ruin the movie for you, don't read what's underlined.**

**JACK CAN /NOT/ END UP SINGLE! ELIZABETH CAN /NOT/ END UP WITH WILL! IT'S SPARRABETH! NOT…WILLABETH! OR WHATEVER!**

**-Rawr-**

**Well, besides that, it was a good movie. D! But I didn't expect anything les than FABULOUS.**

The dining hall in the monastery was amazing. It was about half a mile long with a hundred or so fifteen-foot wooden tables with connecting benches. The tables were side-to-side horizontally so if you didn't inspect them closely, it looked like there were a hundred very long tables, side by side. There were candles every five feet so they could see what they were eating, because apparently the sun set very early where they were.

Jack was eating mutton leg. He was sitting between Elizabeth and Tia Dalma. It seemed he was always beside two women as always. It was his first meal he'd eaten at the monastery. He was devouring the mutton as though he hadn't eaten in a week.

At the front of the hall, the head monk clapped his hands and the sharp noise resounded throughout the long room. "Attention!" he yelled. Jack turned to see what he had to say. "In honor of our guests," he pointed to the table at which the _Black Pearl_'s crew was seated, "we've invited a special guest to join us. Please welcome clergyman Philip Dias." A stout man rose from the table and was about to say something when he spotted Jack. His flushed red and he pointed a shaking index finger at him. "You!" he spat.

Jack's eyes were wide and he muttered, "Oh, no." He shot up, grabbed Elizabeth's arm, pulled her up from sitting on the bench and yelled, "C'mon, crew! We are NOT staying here any longer!"

He turned to glare at the crew, who were seated and looking rather confused. "Well what are you waiting for? Go!"

"Why?" Ragetti asked timidly.

"Don't ask why, just come on! If you can't come we're leaving you behind!" By this time the crew had all gotten up and looked like they were ready to go. Jack hoisted Elizabeth into his arms, much to her chagrin. She kicked her legs and fidgeted in his arms, making it very hard for him to run away from the approaching clergyman.

"Let me go!" she yelled. "I am perfectly competent of escaping by myself, thank you!" She jumped out of his arms, turned towards the door, and ran with Jack and the crew following close behind. "What is the matter with you?!" she asked Jack in a shrill voice.

"Let's just say that Brother Dias and I have a sort of…history with each other, love."

"Oh, heavens."

They had reached the pier where the _Pearl_ was docked. Everyone hurried up the deck, even thought they still weren't exactly sure why they were running. "Come on now! Scurry, hustle!" Jack continued in this bossy manner until all the crew was on board. "Gibbs. If you would be so kind as to get us away from here as fast as we bloody can, that would be most appreciated." He turned and faced the crew, who were bent over and panting. "Now. Some of you may be wondering why it is that we had to make such a hasty retreat from the monkery." He sighed. "A while back I impersonated him in a church and that's all I'm going to say about the matter. It isn't something I'm proud of." He broke into a huge grin and laughed. "Yeah, it is. One of my greater feats. In confession, I told a lady to go and divorce her husband and marry a donkey 'cause 'God told me it was so'…" He stopped at the disapproving looks from Elizabeth and Tia Dalma. "Er, alright. So….so! We don't really have anywhere to go, I suppose." He turned to Gibbs. "Gibbs? Where do you want to go?"

His first mate look flustered that Jack actually wanted to know where _he_ wanted to go. "Well, Cap'n, I'd really like to go to Tortuga an' get some rum."

"Tortuga it is!" Jack exclaimed. "I approximate we will be there in one day's time. Now, off to your duties." He waved the group away. Elizabeth smiled as she walked towards his figure leaning over the railing, grinning and watching the sun set.

"You're in a good mood," she observed.

"Yeah…it's good to remember the days when pirates could steal, pillage, and impersonate members of the Church of England at will." At this his smile faded. He sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that…the days when pirates could steal, pillage and impersonate members of the Church…they're comin' to an end, love. The world's shrunk, what with colonizin' Ameriwhatsit and all that."

"America," Elizabeth corrected kindly.

"Whatever. It's just that pirates aren't allowed to roam around as freely as we once were. Not a good feeling, right? It's like being trapped in a cage. You always know where you're going. What happened to sailing and not knowing where you're gonna wind up? What happened to that freedom, that sovereignty? The _Black Pearl_'s freedom, of course, but with the way we're headed, love, I think the _Pearl_'s going to be the only sense of liberty left in this world. We, the pirates, we've got to remain our own kind. We've got to not have a ruler except the rule of our whim an' fancy. I _hate_ havin' to report to someone. I _hate_ being settled down. And, you know, what could be better for me than a ship? Always on the sea, the sea's always moving. It's perfect." He paused and smiled slightly. "She's a good ship, she really is. Always been with me. Always." He patted the railing, but stopped when he saw that Elizabeth had actually been listening to him. He straightened his figure and cleared his throat. "Well, uh…"

"That was beautiful, Jack." Elizabeth's deep brown eyes sparkled in the moonlight. He coughed.

"I don't usually talk that much unless I've had a lot of rum."

She thought back to the time on the island. "Yeah, I guess you don't. And when you do, you generally talk about freedom."

He grinned. "Favorite subject of mine, I s'pose."

She chuckled. "Yes, I suppose." She looked at him and then headed towards the crew's quarters. "Good-night Jack."

He started to turn around, as if there were something he wanted to tell her desperately, but he'd forgotten it. "G'night Lizzie."

4


	26. One Day at a Time

Fiddling with the brass buttons on his frock coat, Cutler Beckett contemplated what his next move would be. His last plan had failed, all thanks to that dim-witted Davy Jones and his brainless—quite literally, thank you—crew. What was Beckett thinking when he got those useless dolts involved?

He sighed. No matter. They would soon be gone. Jones, the crew, Sparrow everyone that got in Cutler Beckett's path. As soon as he stabbed the heart, the seas would be his, and no one would dare disagree with Cutler Beckett, captain of the _Flying Dutchman_.

Oh, it would take time. He couldn't just stab it right away. It would have to take careful timing and evaluation. Once he had killed off Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones, only then would he have the satisfaction of besting his enemies.

He smiled to himself as he thought of the power—the magnificent power he would possess. It was almost unrealistic to dream of such things, but Beckett knew he'd get what he wanted. He always got what he wanted.

But should he do next? He had absolutely no idea. I _should_ just return to Port Royal and wait for the right time to stab the heart, he thought. Yes, that's what I'll do. Let Jones think what he wants. He's just the pawn, that's all. Really, I'm doing him a favor by killing him. He's got nothing to live for.

But Lord Beckett was wrong there. Davy Jones did have something (or, rather, someone) to live for. She meant everything to him.

xoxoxo

Leaning against the ship's railing, Tia Dalma was staring focused into the night. She was blinking to keep the angry tears from giving away what she was feeling.

"Tia Dalma?" A soft voice came from behind her. "Are you alright?"

She regained her composure and her vision cleared of tears. "Just grieving, child."

"You really loved him, didn't you?" Elizabeth's soft brown eyes were liquid and sympathetic.

"You have no idea."

"Maybe I do. Would you like to talk about it?"

Tia was silent for a few moments before she spoke. "You do have an idea, Elizabeth. I was wrong. What I had with him is what you had with William and what you now have with," she paused and smiled, "witty Jack Sparrow."

Elizabeth shook her head quickly. "You're wrong, I love Will."

"I do not hear you denying that you are in love with Jack Sparrow." She was not looking at Elizabeth, but the sea. When Elizabeth didn't say anything, Tia glanced her way and saw that she was crying.

"So… so what if I do?" she whispered. "It isn't like he could ever love me back. He's got all these wenches and whores drooling all over him, what's he needing me for?"

"Him does not love them, Elizabeth. They mean absolutely nothing to him compared to you. She laughed. "You have not left his mind since you kissed him."

Elizabeth gasped. "How—how—how—how do you know about that?"

"I have my ways, child. Meanwhile you have got to tell Jack Sparrow how you feel about him. He loves you."

Elizabeth frowned, contemplating this. _I _do_ feel very, very attracted to him_, she thought, and she realized that that was the first time she'd actually admitted it to herself. "And I love him," she whispered. "But what about Will? It will break his heart."

"He will get over you. I promise he will."

"Really?" Elizabeth sounded doubtful.

"Really." Tia nudged her towards Jack's cabin. "Now go. He's waiting, and you're losing time."

Elizabeth smiled at her friend and headed toward Jack.

xoxoxo

A rapping rhythm from his door awoke Jack. He'd only been sleeping for about fifteen minutes.

"It's open." His eyes brightened when he saw that it was Elizabeth. "You're not asleep yet?"

She shrugged and Jack sat up and scooted over so she could sit next to him. "I was talking to Tia Dalma."

" 'Bout what?" She didn't answer. "About what?" he repeated.

She fidgeted with a lock of hair and Jack tried not to notice that she was slouched over and he could see down her thin linen dress. "I, er, need to talk to you about something."

He scolded himself by deliberately not looking at her. "I'm listening, darling."

"I—" she began, but buried her head in her hands.

_Oh no, not again_, Jack thought to himself. But she didn't cry this time. She raised her head and sighed.

"I…I am in love with you." She was extremely quiet and she was shaking.

Jack's russet eyes were about as wide as they could get and he felt as if he were about to faint. "Wh—what now?"

"I love you! I love you, Jack Sparrow!" She laughed incredulously.

Jack's heart was pounding as he searched for the words to say, He seemed so vulnerable and combined with his half-open mouth he looked absolutely adorable. But he hadn't said anything so Elizabeth patted him on the shoulder. "Jack? Are you ill?"

He blinked and shuddered. "That's—that's funny, I could have sworn you just told me you loved me."

"I did." She frowned. "Jack you're acting strange."

"Well wouldn't you be? Your best friend just told you she loved you, how would you respond to that?"

"I'd say something that made sense." Elizabeth smiled slightly as she waited for just that.

Jack sighed, pressing his index fingers to his temples. "Love, Davy Jones once told me my soul—or lack thereof—was worth 100 souls. If that's true, yours must be worth a thousand."

Elizabeth's eyes watered. "Oh, Jack."

"You mean too much to me for me to put you in any kind of mortal danger. When you got shot, all that was going through me mind was how I'd let you down. And if we were together… Well, there are too many people that want me dead and they would not mind getting their hands on anyone I care about. I can't afford to lose you again—once was quite enough."

Elizabeth knew that that was about as close to an "I love you" that she was ever going to get, and that she accepted. "I'm willing to take that risk," she whispered.

He shook his head. "No, Lizzie, I will never forgive meself if you were hurt—again."

"Jack, Jack," she murmured as she leaned into him. "Let's take it one day at a time, shall we?" She kissed him and all the pent-up tension and passion and emotion between them was released.

4


	27. Choices

**A/N: I know what you're thinking: Whaaat? You haven't been murdered or kidnapped? Where have you been all this time?**

**To which I do not have a reasonable answer. **

**Read&&Review.**

Elizabeth was in a dreamlike state for the next few days. Being with Jack was… indescribable. She could be things with him that she could never bee with Will: herself. With Jack, she could actually belch without receiving a reprimanding glare; to the contrary, Jack actually approved. She felt free.

Freedom. How _did_ she feel about freedom? With Will, she was expected to settle down, the wife of a blacksmith. But wasn't that what she had wanted? Back before she had met Jack, yes. But that was only because she had never actually known what an amazing feeling being among pirates gave her.

She had accepted the facts: she no longer loved Will, she loved Jack. It had always been him, ever since that night on the island when they had been marooned.

It's sad, really, she thought to herself. All this time with him and an equal amount of denial.

She shook her head. No. No more thinking about him. He was taking up too many of her thoughts. Too much of Jack Sparrow and you aren't able to think straight, unable to do anything but think of him.

She breathed in and out; time to _not_ think about him. Heading to the front of the _Black Pearl_, she spotted Barbossa and was relieved to have someone to talk to. "Barbossa?" She hurried to stand next to him.

"Aye?" He turned to face her.

"Where—where are we going?"

Jack. Jack. Jack.

"Not quite sure, darling, Jack—" Jack. Jack. Darn him. "—hasn't exactly specified where we're headin'."

She groaned and rolled her eyes, a little too dramatically to convey that he annoyed her. "That man. I swear, one day I will just snap, and—and—"

"—kiss me and chain me to a mast to be fed to the Kraken?" His smooth, familiar voice rendered her speechless. She straightened her spine, not one to be fooled around with.

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about." Her strong voice was underlying with shaking cowardice—would he really just tell everyone what she did?

Barbossa chuckled. "Jack, that's quite daft o' ya. You been trying to feed me that mad tale of how you died for how long now, ever since we met up? Miss Swann here says you stayed behind, which I hafta say sounds nobler than kissin' another man's fiancée, but then again, you were never interested in nobility, were ye?"

Jack's eyes were giant brown orbs by the time Hector had finished. Elizabeth was livid, but also a bit sheepish. "Jack," she muttered through clenched teeth, "may I have a word with you? Now?" She asked as he began to protest.

He rolled his eyes nervously. "This won't be long," he assured Barbossa as he was yanked into his cabin by his arm. He winced in pain. "Lizzie," he growled, "you just about ripped me arm off, love."

She shoved him into the room and slammed the door behind them. She glared at him and he returned the look. "It's your fault, really." He looked away and shrugged.

"My fault? _My fault_?" Her voice was shrill and she was no longer worried about thinking of him fondly.

"Whose idea was it to chain me to the mast, hmm? Who thought to murder me, huh, Elizabeth? Oh, I seem to recall that you and I were the only people on the _Pearl_ then, weren't we? And I wasn't exactly suicidal at the moment."

"I had to save Will, and Gibbs! And Tia Dalma, and everyone else! Do you hate me for saving our friends? It was not after us, Jack! It was after you! How many times do I have to tell you? I really doubt you'd rather us die than you." Her eyes were shooting sparks.

Jack sighed, a sudden change from yelling at her. "You did what's best by you. Can't hate you for that."

Elizabeth's defiance and anger collapsed. "I'm sorry Jack. You—you know I love you. I just don't understand. Why would you go telling Barbossa how I killed you?" She winced.

He held out his hands as if the reason was obvious. "Can't you see? Doomed to go down with me ship, my best friend's fiancée kisses me and cuffs me to the ship, I get free with some oil, then I get eaten by the Kraken?"

She raised a single eyebrow. "… and?"

"And it's a great story! Raised from the dead—the immortal Captain Jack Sparrow. I rather like it, don't you?"

She shrugged. Wouldn't being immortal be a bit—oh, I don't know…boring?"

He frowned. "It's all how you look at it. There'd be no one there to be immortal with me. And that would get rather dull. But sailing forever—that's something, love." He sighed. "Too many choices in life, Lizzy, too many choices."

They sat in a comfortable silence.

"Not enough ways to go, as it were," he mused.

Elizabeth smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. He placed his arm around her figure and held her close to him. They were sitting like this when the door opened and Barbossa came in the room. Jack yanked his hand from behind her and pushed her away from him and off of the bed. "Elizabeth! What are you doing! You're William's wife—fiancée—daughter—whatever!" He was flustered and his voice was uncertain. Barbossa's eyes were wide, and his mouth was open. Jack pointed to Elizabeth accusingly. "Hector, she _threw_ herself on me. I didn't know what to do." Barbossa rolled his eyes, but Elizabeth shook her head and began tapping her foot angrily.

"Barbossa. Please, let us alone for a moment." She raised her hand and massaged her temples. Barbossa raised his hands in innocence and backed out of the room and shut the door.

She stood up and paced for a moment, and then she turned to face Jack, who was pointedly not looking at her. "Jack. If—if you are not going to accept that we are together, then I'm not sure if we _can_ be together." She wrung her hands. "If you're not able to tell people that we're in love, then maybe I'll just go back to Will. He's not afraid of what people think." She shook her head and started to walk out, but Jack had risen and grabbed her wrist.

"No—Lizzie—don't. I do want us to be together. I just have…never felt this way before. I can't see it, and I don't know what it is, and it scares me." He sighed.

She smiled sweetly; his transgressions were forgiven. "Welcome to an adult relationship," she said excitedly.

Jack backed up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're in a relationship?"

Elizabeth smiled and nodded. "I'm afraid so."

He shrugged and smiled crookedly. "Alright." Then he kissed her.

4


	28. Unbonding

A/N: Waaaaa

**A/N: Waaaaa! I need to update on what ol' Cutler Beckett's been up to and I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE. D: **

**So expect this one to suck. xD**

Jack was lying down on the deck of the _Black Pearl_, just looking at the stars. It was cold, but not cold enough for him to stop his nightly ritual of watching the constellations. In his imagination, he lay there with his child, pointing to the Belt of Orion, the North Star, and Cassiopeia. He would teach the little boy how to tell the time of day by the position of the sun.

Suddenly the stars were gone. He blinked and sat up quickly, knocking his head against Elizabeth's. He cursed and rubbed his forehead. "Don't sneak up on me like that," he growled, lying back down. She giggled and rested her head on his stomach.

"_Sorry_," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I didn't think the famous Captain Jack Sparrow would be scared of a little girl." She was teasing him.

He ignored this, took a lock of her hair, and twirled it in his fingers. With his other hand he pointed toward one cluster of stars. "See that? Bunch of stars, looks kind of like a cloud?" She nodded. "That's a whole other universe. It has an Earth just like we do; and it has a sun and stars and a sky and millions of people living in it. They're looking at the stars too, and I bet they talk about us."

Elizabeth turned to see Jack's face. His eyes were sparkling and she could only imagine the sorts of things he had thought up about this alternate world. He probably had constructed whole civilizations and their inhabitants: the kinds of lives the people led, their problems, their wants, and their hurts. All this came to life in Jack's mind.

He glanced at her and smiled; his imagining was over. "It makes me feel like a fool. I mean, to me, my problems are the biggest things in my life. I don't have to pay attention to anyone else when something in my life is wrong—it's horrible, I know. But when I look up, out at the stars… it's different. I'm small. I am a speck of dust on the ground of life. I am everything I have seen and done and been and one day I will be gone." He wrinkled his nose. "I _think_ one day I'll be gone. I mean, I thought that I was gone after you, you know… killed me. But as you can see, I'm quite un-gone. So I suppose you never really know what's going to happen when you die."

Elizabeth snorted and Jack frowned. "It's not funny, Elizabeth. I can't believe that you would—"

"No, no, Jack. I wasn't laughing at you." He scanned her visage for any incriminating evidence, but found nothing to indicate that she was not telling the truth. She went on: "It's just that—I don't look at you that way at all. To me, you are—always have been, ever since I was a little girl—huge. _The_ Captain Jack Sparrow. Do you know, I knew exactly who you were the first time I saw you? Standing over me, saving my life…" She blushed. "You're exactly like how I'd always imagined. And yet—" she chuckled— "you aren't like that man at all. I mean, you certainly look the part, what with your tattoos and the rings and the compass. It's just, that's not who you are."

"That's exactly who I am! I'm Captain Jack Sparrow! I'm ruthless and rugged and acrimonious!" He was frowning and Elizabeth smiled.

"No, no, Jack, you're not." She reached up to stroke his face. "You're sweet and funny and handsome and wonderful."

He laughed nervously. "Well, I, ah—I _am_ handsome and wonderful…" He was suddenly quite aware of how beautiful Elizabeth was.

The moon was almost directly above them. Everything was so ethereal when illuminated by it, and Elizabeth… she was gorgeous. Her eyes seemed to glow and her skin shone—and was Jack imagining it or did her hair look pale blonde? Whether he was seeing things or not, he wanted to take advantage of that moment. Also, it helped that everyone was asleep.

He decided that it was the opportune moment to do what he did best. He reached over and stroked her face with his index finger. "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?"

He couldn't see all of her face, but it seemed to him like she was blushing. "Jack…" she started, but he interrupted her.

"No, love, I'm serious. Have I? Because you are beautiful. I'm the luckiest man in the world, do you know that?" He wondered if she knew he meant every word.

She bit her lower lip and laughed. "I think you're backwards. It's me who's the lucky one. The most famous… the greatest pirate of our time chose me? A governor's daughter from Port Royal? I never would have dreamt it."

Jack simply looked at her; he had never wanted her more. Reaching over and grabbing her arm, he pulled her next to him. She shut her eyes and enjoyed just being close to him, enjoyed him touching her. He leaned over and kissed her forehead and after that he would not stop kissing her, whether it was her forehead, her neck, or her arm. She held him in her arms when he was done, the places he'd kissed burning like white-hot brands. Gently he reached over and started to unlace her dress but she arched her back and shook her head. "I'm sorry Jack. Not until we're married."

He blinked. "We're to be m—married?"

She smirked and twirled his hair in her fingers. "Of course we are. This—" she pointed between the two of them— "doesn't happen all the time. It's special and I want to have it with the person I'm meant to be with. You."

He paused and thought a moment before answering, "But, really, Elizabeth? Marriage? Isn't that a bit drastic? Can't we just…you know…do it?"

Her eyes hardened and her voice was cold. "If you don't think I'm worth having and cherishing forever, then I'll go and get married to Will. I'd do it."

This was a huge blow to Jack's ego and, ultimately, his soul. "Well," he said quietly after a moment, "I suppose we know how you feel about this while situation, then, don't we?"

She saw what impact her words had on him and immediately regretted saying anything. "Jack, I—"

He rose and she fell out of his lap. "No. It's fine. Really. Go on and marry Will. I hope you two are happy together." He walked toward his room before looking back at her over his shoulder. "Don't bother inviting me to the wedding."

Elizabeth watched through quickly blurring vision as he slammed the door to his room without even saying goodnight. This felt strange—being on the suffering side of a fight. It also felt bad. She'd only felt worse when she was seven—after her mother had died. So… had she lost Jack, too? Was this really how it was going to end? She sighed, too tired to be enormously upset about it, numbing herself for a bit. She made a great effort of getting up off the floor of the ship. She headed toward the crew's quarters. Getting into her hammock, she closed her eyes and said a silent prayer—that Jack would forgive her, that her father was doing alright, and that Will was alive and wasn't hurt.

xoxoxo

"Thank you, Jack." Elizabeth said as Jack scanned his ship for the last time, squinting in the bright sun. His expression was unreadable.

"We're not free yet, love."

She looked at him, a well of sadness springing up in her. "You came back. Walking towards him, she continued, "I always knew you were a good man." She made a split decision, one that she couldn't take back. She closed her eyes and the space between them. Oh, he tasted like everything she'd imagined yet nothing she experienced. But she came here to get a job done. She reached toward the shackle on the bulkhead and clamped it around his wrist.

Breaking the kiss, his eyes held many emotions: questioning, sadness, anger, regret, humor to name a few. "It's after you, not the ship." She said by way of feeble explanation. "It's not us. This is the only way, don't you see?" Leaning in one more time, her heart tugged her away. "I'm not sorry," she lied weakly.

He looked down at her again, an unknowable wisdom and humor in his eyes and smiled as he said, "Pirate."

xoxoxo

She woke with a start. Her first thought was why had she dreamt about that? Of all the things to dream about… right now she just wanted to get away from the pain. Raising her wrist to her mouth, she bit the fleshy portion until she couldn't feel anything. She wished she were dead. All this emotion, these feelings she couldn't push away—they were too much for her to handle.

Suddenly she just started shaking and tears clouded her vision. Stumbling out of the hammock, she made her way up to the main level of the ship. She cursed softly; she could see nothing due to the clouds now covering the moon. She felt against the wall and finally found what she was looking for.

Still sobbing quietly, she pushed the door to Jack's cabin open softly. She checked to see if he was still awake; if he was she couldn't tell. She decided to hope for the best as she groped along the walls of his room. Her fingers closed around an object. She slid it off its rack and grimaced as it made a scraping noise. As she left his cabin, a fleeting doubt raced through her mind. She shoved it away, knowing what she was doing was best. For everyone.

She raised the sword, shut her eyes and positioned it to stab herself in the heart. No sooner had she done this than she was hit over the head. Falling, all she remembered was the clang of the sword hitting the floor.

**A/N: That took so much effort. You have absolutely no idea. I felt so guilty for leaving you all hanging.**

**BUT I'M BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER BABY.**

**This story, I've decided, will be split into two parts, "Acts" as it were. Act I just ended. If you want to continue reading** **Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End****, you can look up Act II. There everything will come to a dramatic conclusion, after a while, of course. **

**:3**


	29. A Letter from the Author

Okay

Okay. So. I'm not sure I want to keep writing anymore. / I don't think my story is liked anymore and I'm not sure I'm writing for me.

If you want me to continue writing, leave a review telling me why I should.

It's just…yeah.


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